My Friend Calliope
by thegoodwitchofdarkmagic
Summary: AU Severus Snape had lost his only friend because of a poor choice. However, during the summer, he unwillingly gains another.


**Author Note of Doom: Ummm...Hi! If you have not been waiting for me to upload one of my many stories, please skip this note and enjoy the story. For the rest of you, I have only one thing to say...Please don't kill me! I haven't forgotten about my stories, but I have been very busy. (I know it's a lame excuse) However, now that the school year is winding down, I will have more time to write. So please forgive me.**

**Disclaimer: Do I even have to type this...I don't own Harry Potter...Or his amazing friends.**

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Prologue:Escaping My Reality

For most, it would be hard to understand my mind-numbing fear of silence. It would seem foolish to fear something so harmless as silence, but the average person could never fathom the true dangers of silence. They had never experience true silence: the silence that invaded the mind and dulled the senses. I hated how true silence caused my doubts and fears that I had locked away in the deepest part of my brain to awaked and slithered slowly into my thoughts. With this awful sensation controlling my body, I would feel that I had ceased to exist, becoming a ghost observing the world through a soundproof screen with only despair for company.

It was hard for me to escape from this abomination because I had nobody to protect me from it. I no longer had any friends who could chase away the silence with a warm smile and a few playful words. I couldn't run into the strong, protecting arms of my parents to elude the silence that threaten me. My parents were too wrapped up into their hatred of each other to bother worrying about me. The only time I enter their thoughts was when they used me as a weapon against the other. I was now alone to stand up against the silence that surrounded me and I was slowly losing the struggle for my sanity. I wasn't sure how much longer before I truly disappeared from this world.

Ever since I had returned home to Spinner's End for the summer, the horrible silence that I had feared for years had been my only companion. No matter where I went in the dreary house, it would circle around me like a hungry shark, waiting for me to lose control of my crumbling sanity. The silence had created a heavy and cold miasma throughout the dim, dirty house, suffocating my ears and taunting my poor mind. I wanted to let out a scream to purify the house of the terrible silence, but I was more afraid of the horrible event that would occurred if the silence was destroyed.

So I hid in my tiny room, only leaving my sanctuary to get some food and water or to use the bathroom. I loathed myself for staying in my room like a coward, fearing the world outside my small, dark room. Although I was hiding from the silence, I also didn't want to watch the quietly brewing rage of my parents as they sulked around the house, waiting for the violent brawl between them to erupt. Their fighting was worst then the silence.

For a month, I lived in my room, waiting for something to happen. I waited impatiently for the screams, the shattering of dishes, or the sickening thud of a fist connecting with flesh that would begin the bloody fight. Sleep refused to help me escape reality at night and my stomach was unable to handle large amounts of food during that stressful time. And for a month, nothing happen. After the first month of summer break pasted, I relaxed slightly, allowing my body to function normally. I ventured out my room more, but I still avoided my parents. I also started to work on my forgotten homework a little bit so I wouldn't have to rush to finish it at the end of the summer. I should had known it wasn't a good idea to become hopeful for a quiet, calm summer with only the threat of the silence to worry about.

I was working on an essay for Professor Slughorn when my mother's voice filled the house, unleashing the anger that had been lurking underneath the silence. The harsh screams of my feuding parents slaughtered the silence that had haunted me since I step through the front door. The screams penetrated the thin peeling walls that surrounded me. The appalling noise rushed into my sanctuary and attacked my ears. I sat there on the floor unable to move. The noise had invaded my room so suddenly that I wasn't sure if the silence that had been my unwanted friend for so long was gone. As my mother voice rose into a shriek of indignity, I snapped back into reality.

I was determined to try to ignore the loud fight that was taking place somewhere in the house. With trembling fingers, I pulled out my _Advance Potion Theory_ textbook from my bag and opened the worn book carefully. Skimming the text, I started to form an idea on how to start my essay. I almost got my quill to the parchment before my father's voice crescendo suddenly, making the walls and the few objects clinging desperately onto them to rattled. Sighing in defeat, I flung the book away from me, causing it to lose a few of its stained, tattered pages.

I slumped against the wall, bringing my knees to my chest and wrapping my thin arms around them. Resting my aching head on my knees, I attempted to block out the yelling, but I couldn't. I wanted to flee the hostile atmosphere of the house for the safety of my hideaway in the woods. But, my childhood haven was no longer a refugee for me. Without my best friend, it was an earthy dungeon. Painfully bittersweet memories of pasted summers awaited in the shadows of the giant trees and in the slow, glittering river to mock and torture my trouble mind and aching heart.

As quickly as it disappeared, the silence returned. The cruel screams had halted, leaving the gloomy house with the revengeful silence. My mind couldn't understand how the strange, unwelcome silence had returned. For a few horrible moments, I thought I had gone deaf. It was impossible for my parent's to abruptly stop fighting. A feeling of sickening dread filled my stomach, making me want to gag.

Then the sound of one of our few plates shattering against a wall rang brilliantly through the house, ending the cease-fire between my mother and father. I almost collapsed in relief as the fighting continued with more brutally force.

My battered nerves couldn't take more of the yelling and screaming. Using the bed for the support, I pulled my trembling body up. I staggered to the dirty, little window in my room, wincing every time my mother's voice peaked in volume. Opening the window, I popped out the screen. I watched it hit the brown lawn below and bounced awkwardly into our neighbor's bushes. I was tempted to peer over my shoulder and to see if anyone had noticed my escape attempt, but I stopped myself from doing it. I scolded myself for being childish; I knew no one would miss me. Taking a deep breath, I leaped.

The window wasn't very high so I was able to land not so gracefully on the ground. I teetered on my feet, almost falling onto my back. When I was steady, I studied my surroundings with narrowed eyes. The sun glazed down from the painfully blue sky, making my dark clothes stick to my sweating skin. The extreme heat had killed the plants, leaving the wilted, brown bodies to bake in the blistering sunlight. All the imperfections of the house on Spinner's End were revealed in the harsh light, making it unbearable to look at them. I briefly wondered what I looked liked in the sunlight of this hot July day. I grinned humorlessly at my childish thought.

Finally free from the house, I was unsure what to do next. The only thing I really wanted to do was put a great distance between the fighting and I. However, I had nowhere to go. I didn't want to wonder around the dirty, ugly town; it wouldn't do any good helping me clear my mind. I needed a place where I would be alone to wallow in my sorrows without interruption. The hideaway in the forest entered my mind, but I discarded the idea instantly. Going to that place would only remind me of Lily and add another wound to my already damaged heart. So I settled for the next best thing: the park.

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**I'm kind of scared to see what you readers have to say. Heck, I don't even know what to say about my attempts at protraying a 16 year old Severus. Please , review and give me some feed back. I would like some comments before I put up chapter 2.**

**Peace out,**

**The Good Witch of Dark Magic**


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